What you're required to do in Manitoba if a close contact shares a positive COVID-19 diagnosis with you

Manitoba’s move to ask people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 to notify their own close contacts can be effective as long as people are honest, according to one expert.

Cynthia Carr, an epidemiologist and founder of EPI research, sees the need for faster notification amid rising case counts and the emergence of a more transmissible variant.

“The faster people know, the faster we take action, the faster we can work together to stop the spread of this variant that really wants to move very quickly,” Carr said.

Nova Scotia has also started asking people with confirmed cases to notify close contacts and so have some health units in Ontario.

Manitoba has said with an Omicron surge expected, the number of cases and contacts will exceed public health notification resources.

Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief public health officer, first mentioned the move on Friday.

“We’re going to, in many ways, in lower-risk situations have cases contacting their contacts and informing them,” Roussin said last week.

Roussin said the province will continue contact tracing in high-risk scenarios and settings such as health facilities, schools, childcare centres, and shelters.

However, he said resources are being diverted to vaccination programs where officials feel they can make a bigger impact against omicron.

Carr points out people’s social circles should be shrinking anyway due to new public health orders restricting private gatherings and putting capacity limits on businesses and events.

“Even if public health was doing all the contact tracing, you would still need to keep track of who you were with,” Carr said.

She said in situations where someone becomes infected with COVID-19, they should already have a built-up trust with the people they’re spending time with and that it may be easier for individuals to reach their contacts than it is for public health.

“From my experience, I can tell you sometimes it’s like 10, 12 days later when you finally reach the person,” Carr said. “Well, the window of opportunity to really make any impact is already well over.”

The province declined an interview request to elaborate on the policy and instead directed CTV News Winnipeg to the Manitoba government’s website.

The information defines a close contact as someone you’ve shared a space with two days before your symptoms started or before you got tested and 10 days after your symptoms developed or after your test. More specifically the website says a close contact is someone you were within two metres of for a total of 10 minutes even if you’re both fully vaccinated.

Manitoba public health said people identified as a close contact need to self-isolate for 10 days, monitor for symptoms for an additional four days and contact Health Links (204-788-8200 or 1-888-315-9257) if they develop symptoms.

The province said in an emailed statement it may not be a requirement to self-isolate if you’re a fully vaccinated close contact and have no symptoms.

“Public health officials will let close contacts know if they meet criteria for exemption from self-isolation (quarantine),” the province said. “All individuals exempt from self-isolation (quarantine) requirements should continue to self-monitor for symptoms, and isolate immediately if any develop and go for testing.”

“Household members of close contacts do not need to self-isolate (quarantine) as long as they and the close contact in the household remain without symptoms. If the close contact develops symptoms, all household members, unless otherwise exempt, should self-isolate (quarantine) until the symptomatic individual receives their COVID-19 test result.”

The move isn’t sitting well with everyone.

“My jaw hit the floor when I read what they were doing,” said Arthur Schafer, the founding director of the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics.

Schafer said contact tracing is a skillful job that requires training in how to best protect the privacy and health of Manitobans.

He said some people may feel ashamed or may be unwilling to share their diagnosis.

“If you’ve been diagnosed with COVID are you competent to tell your close contacts, even to decide who your close contacts are and then to inform what they should do, what symptoms they should look out for,” Schafer said. “That they should get tested, the various precautions they should take — this is a really skillful task.”

“The government of Manitoba is just dropping the ball at the most critical moment."

Carr said notifying close contacts you have contracted an infectious disease is required in other situations not related to COVID-19.

“Contact tracing does not take over responsibility from you,” Carr said. “Even though public health would typically follow up, whether it’s tuberculosis or a sexually transmitted infection, for example, those reportable diseases for which we need to let others know so that they get tested, they get treated if needed and that they don’t pass it on. Those are important partnerships with public health and the individual.”

She said if you’re facing a long wait for COVID-19 test results, it may be helpful to let your contacts know you’ve been tested sooner rather than later. She said that way people can at least limit their social contacts faster to help reduce the risk of transmission.

“They will be grateful and thankful you let them know early,” Carr said. “By not telling people, you’re not going to be able to hide it if they do become infected. They’re going to trace it back and realize who they were around.”

The province’s website says to let the organizer know if you were infectious while playing sports or taking part in an activity.

The website says if you’ve been in a large gathering, restaurant or bar, public health officials will record the information, and if there is an outbreak, or further transmission is detected, a public notification may be issued to direct people in attendance to self-monitor.